Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award Shortlists Announced

Anyone who is worried that young people are becoming less interested in books needs only to look to the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards. Not only do the awards celebrate the great writing for young people happening in Canada, but they are the only Canadian literary award where student juries work together to choose the winning books. This year, students at Scarborough Village Alternative Public School in Toronto will select the winning titles. Five students in grades 3 and 4 will select the recipient(s) of the Children’s Picture Book Award, while five students in grades 7 and 8 will select the recipient of the Young Adult/Middle Reader Award.

The Schwartz Children’s Book Awards are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. The shortlists for both awards contain some heavy hitters in children's writing, including Dennis Lee, Susin Nielson and Eric Walters, who has the distinction of being featured on both shortlists for different books.

Today at the CBC building in Toronto, media and book lovers gathered to hear from the authors and panellists selected for CBC Canada Reads: Turf Wars.

The 2013 incarnation of the competition features books from across the country, which for the purpose of the contest has been divided into five regions. Tens of thousands of Canadians weighed in during the first round of voting, which was open to the public. For a full list of the panellists and books, please see our Canada Reads announcement.